Petsmart/petco leopards

[steve_gecko23]

i work at a big name pet store and i have to be honest i dislike the conditions they have the leos in..

 

[ApplestoApples]

save up enough to get a few (2 or 3) leos & pay the shipping.
you will have the hets of your leos listed

Thats gonna take a loooooong time. I do have one other pet shop in my area but it smells terrible like cat pee and cigerrate smoke and I would still go but my mom refuses to even go in there.

 

[M_surinamensis]

Holy crap Seamus.....haven't seen you around in a looooong time, lol.

I'm usually around, somewhere.

 

[Embrace Calamity]

Thats gonna take a loooooong time. I do have one other pet shop in my area but it smells terrible like cat pee and cigerrate smoke and I would still go but my mom refuses to even go in there.

Don't buy from a place that smells like cigarette smoke. If they're smoking in there, the animals are breathing it in, which is not good (animal abuse, if you ask me).

~Maggot

 

[kara]

I am getting a leopard gecko in the near future, and was wondering if it is a good idea to buy from these companies? I know they keep inferior fish with bad genetics, is this the case with leopards? I might consider breeding them in a year or so, and I dont want to buy a bad animal. Also, is there genes in leopards, or just more desired types?

Most chains don't even know what morphs are. I asked the lady what morphs they had and she said regulars. I said, You mean normals? She stared at me and said no, just regulars.. They have very little knowledge with what they are selling. They often call them "fancy"/"regular" which is not a morph. I wouldn't buy from them if you plain on breeding and I wouldn't buy from them in general. They have no idea on how to care for them and they often sell sick geckos with parasites (i know from experience) Please do a lot more research before you breed. Also breeding can be a lot of money. (up to a thousand or more!!) if you cannot afford this you shouldnt breed

 

[ericssonfan81]

Although I've mostly seen mistreated geckos in big chain pet store, the local big name store near my house has an employee that own leos of her own and has the proper husbandry for them.

The 5 geckos (including 2 current juvies) I've owned in my lifetime were all storebought and had no problems. The main concern I have would be housing 10 together like I see. Who knows who's got what parasite and an unsuspecting buyer can find themselves with a gecko going downhill fast.

I see normals 90% of the time but on occaision have seen albinos, murphys patternless at some stores.

I picked up a baby from a chain reptile store who laballed it as tangerine and it's looks to be turning out to be a nice HTCTB or maybe even SHTCTB

 

[razorgecko1982]

I have had two experiences with Petco. One that ended up with me having a really sick Leo that would not eat, ultimately I ended up returning to the store that I got from they had filthy conditons and what appeared to be really ill geckos.

The second experience with the second store was much better. They were much cleaner and as such their geckos were a lot healthier. Both stores have great customer service. But I will caution you to check their aquariums and cleanliness, as well as the overall health of the geckos before purchasing.

 

[Embrace Calamity]

I have had two experiences with Petco. One that ended up with me having a really sick Leo that would not eat, ultimately I ended up returning to the store that I got from they had filthy conditons and what appeared to be really ill geckos.

The second experience with the second store was much better. They were much cleaner and as such their geckos were a lot healthier. Both stores have great customer service. But I will caution you to check their aquariums and cleanliness, as well as the overall health of the geckos before purchasing.

I'm curious, how did you end up with the first gecko and not realise they had such conditions? Did someone buy it for you?

~Maggot

 

[lisa127]

I've had 3 pet store leo's in the many years Ive kept leo's. One however was from a small, privately owned store that specialized mostly in birds with a few reptiles. My other two pet store leo's were from big chain stores. Despite me knowing better from being in the hobby for almost two decades...lol. Both of my chain store leo's turned out to be robust and healthy geckos though (my biggest ones of all of them actually). The rest of my leo's came from private breeders.

 

[OhioGecko]

I'm going to lock this thread down.

Bottom line it comes down to liability for posting negatives towards big chain stores. There has been good and bad said about pet stores in general. Bottom line is that it varies in conditions and employees. You can use your own judgement by simply looking at one of the care sheets or habitat setups they have.

If you are getting a pet gecko, a pet store could be a viable option.

If you are getting into breeding you will not now the genetics behind the gecko. Unknown genetics will cause a mess for genetically marking your geckos. Then selling those geckos as "what they look like" is irresponsible. This could be another thread topic by itself.